Kathleen Tarr

Lecturer, Stanford Introductory Studies - Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Bio

Kathleen Tarr is a University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School graduate, Lecturer at Stanford University in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric, former Skadden Fellow (“legal Peace Corps”), Series Editor for Cultural Weekly’s "Woman’s Work: Setting the Agenda for Gender Equity", and member of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Women’s Media Action Coalition. As the latter, Kathleen co-authored the Women’s Media Summit White Paper on Gender Inequality in Film and Television (2017) and co-chairs the Media Incubator Task Force with Deborah Goodwin.

During law school, Kathleen assisted in the authorship of Japan’s first university-level sexual harassment policy, and as a Skadden Fellow, she developed some of the U.S.’s first public interest outreach programs to disabled female military veterans. Kathleen published a law review article on veterans disabled by military service that was twice cited by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and her most recent law review article Bias and the Business of Show: Employment Discrimination in the “Entertainment” Industry was touted by filmmaker, screenwriter, and activist Maria Giese as “the MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT published on the issue of discriminatory hiring practices in Hollywood since The New York Times published the ACLU letter to the EEOC in May 2015.”

Bias and the Business of Show evolved from Kathleen’s General Session presentation with special guests Amy Pietz and Edward James Olmos at the 2015 State Bar of California Annual Meeting and is companion to her annual Symposium on Equity in the Entertainment Industry and Awards at Stanford University. 2018 marks her fourth Getting Played symposium at Stanford University – named after her 2010 documentary on (un)equal employment opportunities in the entertainment industry – and second year of Getting PlayedX, similar symposia hosted by other companies and organizations (2017’s Getting PlayedX was hosted by Salesforce-SF).

Kathleen’s "Getting Played: who’s playing you?!" documentary received Honorable Mention at the 2010 International Black Women’s Film Festival, and her short "I Have All The Feelings" was an Official Selection in 2014. In 2015, her short sci-fi film "Early Aliens" was an Official Selection at ASTRONOMMO: Speculative Fiction on Film + Black Women.

Overlapping these myriad careers, Kathleen’s acting credits encompass stage, film, commercials, television, and video games including "House M.D.", Sundance award winner "Dopamine", and "Sim City". She is also a Women’s American Football League draftee and indoor rowing world record holder.

Please visit Chronicle Vitae for more information and links to publications and presentations: https://chroniclevitae.com/people/566458-kathleen-tarr/profile

Academic Appointments

Lecturer, Stanford Introductory Studies - Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Administrative Appointments

Writing Specialist, Public Policy Program (2018 - Present)

Honors & Awards

Nominee, 2018 State of the Arts "Arts Enabler Award", Arts for a Better Bay Area (March 2018)